


Euphoria

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe- Werewolves are still a thing, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Stiles, Canon-Typical Violence, Gun Violence, M rating for suicidal tendencies, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Sarcastic Stiles, Secret Identity, Sick Stiles Stilinski, Sterek Bingo 2017, Suicidal Stiles Stilinski, Suicidal Tendencies, Suicidal Thoughts, Superhero Derek, Superhero Stiles Stilinski, Superheroes, Terminal Illnesses, apathetically suicidal, attempted suicide, sarcastic Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 01:24:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11003067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: "What the hell's the matter with you kid!? Do you have a death wish or something?!"Actually, Stiles liked the sound of that"Yeah.... as a matter of fact, I do, the name's Death Wish, nice to meet ya'!" he grinned beneath the bandanna, spraying the pepper spray into the robber's eyesOr: Stiles is diagnosed with Frontal Temporal Dementia; he doesn't deal with it in thebestof ways





	Euphoria

**Author's Note:**

> So... this is quite a bit darker than what I usually write, despite the lighter tone, I had originally intended to make it a little more like Logan with a heavier, grittier tone but I watched one too many Deadpool videos and they merged

In retrospect, this was probably a pretty bad idea

"You think you're going to get away with this? What are you besides a little boy in a suit?"

"Hey! It is not a **suit** ok? It's a **costume** and it's **cool**!"

The man in front of him snorted out a laugh, hauling off and punching him right in the jaw

Yeah, this was DEFINITELY a bad idea....

 

**Nine months ago**

 

"It's going to be ok Kiddo,"

Slowly, the teenager looked up from where he was sitting on the exam table, a pinched look on his face

His father was trying so hard to be positive, but he could see that the older man was on the edge of a breakdown

"Yeah Dad," he said quietly, knowing that to resist, at this point, would only be cruel

"I'm sure it's a misdiagnosis or something,"

It wasn't a misdiagnosis, and they both knew it, but they were both too afraid to say it

 

~+~

 

Frontal Temporal Dementia was the thing that had killed his mother

It had taken her slowly, removed her autonomy, turned her into someone she wasn't

And he wasn't going to go through that

He swallowed tightly, staring at the gun in his hands and taking in a deep breath

He hoped that someone- anyone- would find his body before his father did....

But even if he didn't, it'd be better to see than to watch his son slowly rot away the way his wife had

Even knowing that though, it was hard to wrap his mind around pulling the trigger, his hands shook as he slowly pressed the barrel against his head, a few tears slipping out of his eyes as he tried to steel himself

He licked his lips, biting down on his tongue and squeezing his hand around the handle

He slowly slipped his finger against the trigger, opening his eyes for one last sight of the water down below and- .... pausing

He could see something odd out of his prephrial vision...

There was a woman no older than him standing on the edge of the bridge, staring down at the water

And he immediately got a rotten feeling in his gut, pouncing up to his feet as he ran forward

"STOP!!!" he shouted, pushing her backwards and away from the edge of the bridge

Unfortunately- or, fortunately probably- he lost his balance, tumbling over the edge and towards the water

He hadn't wanted to drown, he always had thought that would be the worst way to go but...

But this was probably better

His father would know that he went out a hero, saving someone's life instead of a coward who ended his own

And that made it ok

That made him close his eyes and breathe deeply before hitting the water

 

~+~

 

The first thing he heard was beeping

He gasped, coughing suddenly as he jerked forward, eyes springing open as hands landed on his shoulders and pushed him back down

"D-Dad!?" he croaked

It hadn't worked....

He was still alive....

He just... he just wanted to cry

He wanted to cry and scream and shout because God.... as if the dementia wasn't bad enough, now he had just wasted probably his only real chance to spare his father the pain that was lying ahead....

He could feel the tears starting to itch in his eyes as his father leaned forward and gave him a tight, tight hug

"Stiles... you're ok," he breathed, hugging him a little tighter

"Son you scared the hell out of me! But you.... you saved that woman,"

"I did?" he asked quietly

The older man leaned back, a pleased smile on his face as he stared down at his son

"You did, she said it was your willingness to risk your life for her's that drove her to reconsider, she's alive now because of you,"

Stiles swallowed tightly, a strange feeling of... euphoria... washing over him as he let that sink in

He had saved someone else's life....

Huh.....

"And you didn't even sustain any serious injuries," his father added a moment later

Well that was a plus

"Just... promise me you're never going to do anything that reckless again ok Stiles?"

"Y-Yeah... yeah I promise Dad, I swear,"

He lied

 

~+~

 

That euphoria he felt when he was told he had saved someone else's life was the biggest high he had ever experienced and he was almost itching for another fix

And the beauty part was that he didn't care if he died in the process- hell that was half the goal!!

If he went out like a hero, his father would be proud of him, and he wouldn't have to watch Stiles suffer the way Stiles' mother had all those years ago

And hell, he might just save some people in the process

What about this situation WASN'T a win?

Now .... now he just needed the stuff to accomplish his goal with....

Things like a costume, weapons, gadgets, and whatever else superheros needed

 

**Eight months from present**

 

Finally, after a month of planning and organizing and arranging, Stiles had everything together

The costume had been pretty easy- plain black jeans, black t-shirt, red hoodie with a red bandanna covering his nose and mouth

Easy!

The gadgets....

That had been the harder part, but he had the basics anyway

He had bought another gun, and he carried that along with pepper spray, handcuffs, a screamer, a dagger, a taser, and a flare gun in his utility belt

Ok, so he was no Batman, atleast it was something right?

He had bought a baseball bat to keep with him too but unfortunately that would be too suspicious to carry around everywhere

Now he was going on his first patrol, his heart pounding in his chest as he looked around for anything skeevy going around, and found....

Nothing

In fact the first three days had been complete flops

But the fourth day?

Now THAT was when something was happening!!

He was out patrolling the streets when he saw a man in a skii mask run out of the local gas station with a backpack barely over his shoulder

Stiles immediately knew what was going on and ran across the street as quickly as he could

He wasted no time in grabbing his screamer and setting it off

And just as he had hoped, the robber stopped dead in his tracks to cover his ears, giving Stiles the perfect opportunity to run forward and shoot the taser into the guy's leg

The man shreiked and Stiles huffed, running closer and tearing the bag out of the robber's hand, tossing it behind him as the robber reached into his pocket and revealed his gun, aiming it at Stiles

But Stiles didn't stop, instead he just grabbed his pepper spray and aimed it at the guy's eyes

"Pepper spray? I have a gun you freak!!!"

"And I have pepper spray," Stiles quipped easily

"What the hell's the matter with you kid!? Do you have a death wish or something?!"

Ohhh....

Actually, Stiles liked the sound of that

"Yeah.... as a matter of fact, I do, the name's Death Wish, nice to meet ya'!" he grinned beneath the bandanna, spraying the pepper spray into the robber's eyes

The man dropped the gun instantly and started screaming and writhing on the ground, covering his eyes and trying- stupidly- to rub the spray out as Stiles hurried to grab the gun

He turned around, noticing a small crowd of by-standards gathered behind him, including the gas station employee, who had slowly taken the bag into his arms again

"Well? Don't just stand there! Call the cops!" he huffed

Because of all the things he had on his utility belt, a cell phone was not one of them

 

**Seven months from present**

 

Stiles hissed lowly, pressing a bag of frozen peas to his swollen bottom lip as he leaned back in the kitchen chair

Not all creeps went down easily, and more times than not he ended up sustaining SOME damage

Now that he had been doing this for the better part of the last month though, he was actually getting kind of used to it

"Stiles! You home?"

Swallowing, the eighteen-year-old hurried to open his book and put it in front of his face, dropping the peas to the floor to hide the evidence

"Kitchen Dad!" he called back

"Hey Kiddo, how's your night been?" his father asked as he stepped into the kitchen

"Fine," Stiles answered back vaguely as his father stepped behind him just long enough to scruff up the younger man's hair before heading to the stove where Stiles had dinner waiting

"Yeah? Anything special happen?"

"Not really... you?"

"No.... but hell, have you heard about this Death Wish kid running all over the city causing trouble?"

"Causing trouble? I thought he was helping..."

"Yeah and the dangerous part is I think he thinks he's helping too, but he's just needlessly putting himself and other people at risk and I'm getting ready to strangle the guy, he nearly got himself killed earlier tangling with a burglar,"

"Sounds like a good Samaritan to me," Stiles frowned- not that his father could see it though, because, you know, _book_

"Yeah, well, if he really wants to be such a hero he should join the police force like most reasonable people," the older man huffed back

Stiles just rolled his eyes but decided not to mention anything more, he didn't want to risk drawing attention to himself

"Anyway Kiddo, don't forget you've got a doctor's appointment tommorrow,"

Stiles heaved a sigh, already "excited" to have to explain his busted lip to the doctor and letting his shoulders sag

"Yeah Dad, don't worry, I remember..."

 

~+~

 

The doctor hadn't exactly been optimistic

It wasn't like he had given Stiles a life expectancy period or anything, but he could see on the guy's face when he asked that it wouldn't have been long if he had

Oh well, atleast this just meant that he wouldn't have to keep getting his face split open for much longer right?

He sighed loudly, leaning back in the waiting room and closing his eyes as he, well, waited

Not on the doctor though- no, that visit had ended long enough ago, right now he was just waiting on his father, who had gone off to the bathroom a few minutes ago

"I think you dropped this,"

Slowly, Stiles opened his eyes and looked up at the person handing a papper bag to him

Curiously, he opened the bag and looked in, nearly choking when he saw the gun- HIS gun- at the bottom of the bag

"This isn't-"

"I think it is, _Death Wish_ ,"

Stiles glared up at the woman who was speaking to him

Dark hair, pale skin, dressed in leather...

Oh yeah, this one just SCREAMED "good idea"

"How the hell do you know?"

"That isn't important right now, what's important is that I have a way for you to get everything you want out of this little superhero shenanigan,"

"Oh yeah? And how's that?"

"With this," she replied smoothly, handing him a simple, small... book

It looked old, like the sort of thing you'd see on something like Buffy The Vampire Slayer or Van Helsing or ... something

But pocket sized instead of encyclopedia sized

"Are you handing me a pocket sized ancient spellbook?" he asked sarcastically

"That's exactly what I'm handing you,"

....Oh.....

"I'm offering you everything you want, that book will give you all of the power you need to become a REAL superhero- with real powers and everything, no more pepper spray and calling the cops, and the best part? Everytime you use it, it'll drain away just a little of your life force, so it'll outrun your diagnosis easily, you can go out the way you want to Stiles, you can go out a hero like you want to,"

It sounded too good to be true...

"What's the catch?"

"Usually the death sentence IS the catch, but since you want to die anyway..."

Ok, that was a good point actually

"How do you know who I am? I'm not leaving until I know that much, because already you have 'skeevy' written all over you and I'm not that stupid, I've seen this movie before,"

The woman gave a slight chuckle, shaking her head slowly

"Relax Spiderman, you can tell your Spidey senses to stop tingling, I happened to see you at the bridge, I didn't think it was a coincidence that Death Wish showed up at around the same time and when I tracked the gun's serial number it all made sense,"

Stiles swallowed tightly, staring down at the book and then back up at the woman

"How do I use this thing?"

"Well first you read it, you'll find out from there," she smirked, pushing off from the wall and starting to walk away

"Wait, what's your name?"

The woman paused, a smirk on her face as she turned back towards Stiles

"Jennifer, just call me Jennifer,"

 

**Six months from present**

 

The book worked alright

It worked kind of amazingly as a matter of fact

All Stiles had to do was say a few chants a few times a day and from there, whenever he needed something, just visualize it in his head and it would appear- be it a material item or a power

The first thing he had visualized? An actual costume

This one wasn't totally unlike the original, but it was a hell of alot cooler

Jet black full body spandex with an attached red hoodie-like peice that acted more like a mini cape than a hoodie, the actual hood was still intact and the bandanna covering his mouth was actually fused with the costume now, the rest was just a small red cape that came down just past his shoulders and attached red gloves to the black spandex

It actually looked pretty freaking cool if he did say so himself

And now that he had this handy book by his side, it was alot easier to do ths superhero thing

The thing that he had started realizing though- with growing surprise- was that he wasn't the only one who had decided to play the superhero game

In fact, there was one guy in particular that Stiles had something of a rivalry with, if only because he thought he was better than Stiles

_Lycan_

Stiles understood the reason for the name

From what little he had seen of Lycan's powers they really did greatly resemble a werewolf's

But that was beside the point- the POINT was that Lycan thought he was better than Stiles

And he didn't have to go on and flat out SAY it for it to be true

Because every single time they were at a scene together and Stiles tried to be freindly, Lycan would just give the world's most uninterested answer and run off

Whatever, Stiles wasn't doing this because he wanted to make freinds

He had (unsuccessfull) pottery classes for that!!

The problem was, however, that things were starting to get out of hand with the way Lycan was acting towards him

Almost as if he thought Stiles was the enemy....

 

**Five months from present**

 

Lycan did, in fact, believe Stiles to be the enemy

"What the hell are you doing here!?"

"Um, I believe I'm arresting this bank robber," Stiles huffed back with narrowed eyes

"Go home kid, this isn't your place," Lycan snapped as he stepped forward with his fangs and claws clearly on display- as well as ... quite alot of other things

Lycan's costume consisted of black jeans, a black tank top, a black leather vest, black fingerless gloves, and a black eyemask similar to Nightwing's

(Honestly Stiles never understood the point of those masks, they didn't hide anything...)

"Bite me Wolfboy!! I'm as much a superhero as you are!" he huffed back, climbing to his feet once the zipties he had been using were secure around the robber's hands

The other "hero" growled lowly in his throat as he stepped closer, glaring with annoyance at Stiles

"You aren't a superhero, you're a child! You're just trying to get yourself killed!!"

"So!?"

Realizing he had said too much, Stiles visualized a webslinger and hurried to shoot some webs at the ceiling above him, swinging suddenly over the other man's head and deciding to make a run for it

He could find other crime to stop elsewhere, he didn't need that bank!

**Four months to present**

Stiles met a guy

They were in a flower shop, both buying flowers for their dead mothers for Mother's Day, and it had created an entire conversation

Derek was....

Derek was kind of a little magnificent if he was being honest

He was nice, shy, quiet, a total nerd and an enormous bookworm and ...

Stiles liked him

Stiles liked him more than he had liked anyone in an extremely long time

They exchanged numbers and email addresses and they were talking on the regular now and it was.... incredible.....

Stiles could feel his heart beating in his chest- he could feel ... happiness, excitement, something to look forward to in the mornings, other than superhero stuff

And hell, he couldn't even remember the last time THAT had happened...

He and Derek talked every day and saw eachother several times a week and God... things felt GOOD...

For the first time in history, things felt like they were really looking up...

 

**Three months to present**

 

You had to know that "looking up" thing wasn't going to last

Stiles swallowed as he stared down at the blood on his fingertips from where he had been wiping at his nose, slowly looking up in the mirror

He looked like hell, with dark bags under his eyes, his skin paler than usual, and blood slowly trickling out of his nose

Jennifer had clearly been right about atleast one thing

This book was killing him slowly, he could start to feel it too, underneath the times when he used it

Whenever he got home from patrol or taking care of a cime his body ached in ways that it didn't use to

He was sleeping longer and retaining less food

He was dying... he knew that, he was ok with that (or atleast, he tried to be, it was harder now that Derek was around though)

He just hoped that it wouldn't continue to go slowly like this- he didn't want his father to see him like that, that was his only wish....

**Two months before present**

"See, here's the thing about drug dealers, I don't like 'em, wich I guess in turn means that I don't like you," Stiles said casually as he circled around the man

The criminal growled lowly in his throat and struggled against the restraints, but it was no use

Stiles had used an extremely strong metal, wich, thanks to his trusty book, he had managed to bend just like he saw in Avatar and keep the guy anchored to the chair until the police arrived

Or, until Lycan did, incidentally

"Heeey Lycan! Buddy! You've got this covered right?" Stiles asked as he walked towards the other man, patting him on the shoulder

Lycan glared at the hand touching him as if it had just been dipped in slime and Stiles took that as a yes

"You'll pay for this! You stupid kid!!! I'm going to have your head on a pike!!" the drug lord screamed as Stiles exited the warehouse

"Yeah yeah, tell it to the comic book fans," Stiles huffed back, walking a few feet away before pulling his mask down and coughing loudly, heaving and panting a little as blood dripped out of his mouth

He was getting worse...

He panted and braced himself against the wall

He was shaking and his insides felt like they were melting, he knew he had pushed himself too far today but...

But he had gotten the bad guy and that was what mattered right?

He swallowed tightly, forcing down another string of blood as he sluggishly adjusted the mask over his mouth, panting quietly as he started thinking about the best way to get home

"You're sick... aren't you?"

Stiles froze, not wanting to turn around, not wanting to see the look of _pity_ on Lycan's face, not wanting to look as sick as he knew he did

"That's why you're doing all of this... that's why you don't care about what happens to you... isn't it? You're already dying so you figured you might as well speed up the process, is that it?"

"Something like that, why does it matter?" Stiles bit back

"Look.... Death Wish... there are other ways to go about things, you don't need to turn into some... suicide hunter-"

"Oh spare me! Unless you're terminally ill too then you have no right to talk about what options I do and don't have, got that?"

"Death Wish-"

"Save it!!"

He launched a web up at the nearest rooftop and swung from it before jumping off of it and allowing himself to fly home, the wind catching under the slight glider-type feel of his cape as he forced himself to keep his mind on the goal and not drift off to what had just happened with Lycan.... or, you know, just black out entirely

 

**One month until present**

 

He was definitely getting worse

He was barely able to keep food down, sleeping more than doing anything else, always cold and shaking, always on the verge of... something....

He wasn't sure what it was though, and that kind of scared him

His father was getting worried but he was doing better at saving face with him than he was with anyone else- including Derek

"Did you hear me?"

"Huh?" Stiles muttered back, looking back up at his freind as the older man stared across the table with concern

"Stiles.... what's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm fine,"

"You're not fine, you look like you've been hit by a car,"

"Thanks..."

"I'm serious, you don't look right Stiles, let me take you home ok?"

Stiles was too tired to protest, and all the coffee hadn't seemed to help him with that at all

Derek had helped him up and taken him to the car, buckled him in, and Stiles had spent the entire ride with his mind practically blank as he stared aimlessly out the window

His thoughts drifted here and there to his dad, to being gone, to Lycan being right, to Death Wish suddenly going off the map

And he couldn't help the tear that slid down his face, more thankfull than anything that Derek hadn't noticed it

 

**One week till present**

 

The book was gone

Stiles wasn't sure how or where it had gone, he had been keeping it in a small safe in his closet all these months, but somehow it was just... gone....

It didn't really matter though, not anymore

He was too sick to go on as Death Wish anyway

He had to hang up the suit, weather he liked it or not

He was making peace with this

He stared at the empty safe one last time, heaving a hopeless sigh, before making his way back to bed and falling back into a dreamless sleep

 

**Present**

 

So here he was, being held captive by the same drug lord he had arrested a couple of months ago

He had made the mistake of putting his costume on one last time to see if he could give Death Wish the death he deserved, and now he was here, held in a warehouse, no one knew where he was, being beaten black and blue by this freaking idiot with beads in the scarce little facial hair he dared to call a beard

He had wanted to go out a hero, doing something GOOD like ... like saving a baby from falling off of a roof or pulling someone away from a speeding train or something

Not like... this....

Not slowly killed in a warehouse by a drug lord

But he supposed just about anything was better than slowly rotting away in his bedroom so....

"How's it feel now!? Still like playing superhero!?"

Stiles looked up slowly, one eye swollen shut, blood pouring out of his shattered nose, and barely maintaining steady breath

But he kept going, he wasn't going to give up

He may die here- he WOULD die here- but he wasn't going down without a fight

"Hey, I may be down, but atleast I still have my looks, unlike certain other people in this room who still look like a messed up Picaso painting," he teased, winking with his good eye

The drug lord didn't seem to appreciate that too much as he hauled off and pistol-wipped Stiles against the good side of his face, pressing the gun dead-center against Stiles' forehead

"Do you want me to pull this trigger you stupid big-mouthed peice of trash?"

"Ohhhhh, I'm _shaking_ , go on tough guy, pull it," Stiles taunted, smirking as he watched the unnerved expression flash against the other's face

"Do it," he challenged again, starting to feel a wave of ... calm enter his body

He was calm, because he was in control

He was going out the way he wanted to and that made him feel ok about it

"Do it you coward! Pull it! Pull the trigger!!" Stiles screamed watching the man continue to look more and more unnerved by the sudden turn of events

"PULL THE FREAKING TRIGGER!!!"'

The gun suddenly fell away from his head and Stiles looked up in shock as Lycan pulled his claws from the drug lord's chest, letting the man drop to the floor and kicking the gun away for security

When Stiles looked around he saw that the rest of the drug lord's men had all received similar treatment, wich... explained alot....

"Hey there Wolverine, come to rescue you me?" Stiles teased, coughing loudly into his mask- way to ruin the image....

"What the HELL is wrong with you?" Lycan huffed as he moved to undo the zipties holding Stiles currently in place

"I have a death wish, I thought my name kind of established that already," Stiles answered dryly

Once his hands were free he pulled them back to his front, noticing that he was starting to shake

He wasn't going to make it home....

"Thanks for the rescue Buddy, but I've gotta be off ok?"

He didn't want to die in front of Lycan- or in front of anyone really, but especially not in front of Lycan

The guy may have a tough exterior but he was a softie underneath, Stiles could tell, and he didn't want to burn that image in his head for the rest of eternity

Unfortunately, Lycan himself seemed to have a very different opinion as he grabbed Stiles' shoulder and spun him around, yanking the mask off of his face in a flash

"DUDE!! What the bloody hell!?!"

Lycan looked sympathetic before reaching up and taking off his own mask, and-.... _oh_

_"Derek!?"_

So maybe those eye masks did more than Stiles originally thought...

He swallowed tightly, wincing as his ears started ringing and he wobbled on his feet, the world was starting to spin faster around him and he could only barely hear Derek calling out his name before blacking out entirely

 

~+~

 

Stiles winced, eyes opening as he slowly sat up and looked around

He was on a couch.... but not his own....

And shockingly he wasn't in pain

He sat up a little bit better, heart jumping when he spotted Derek sitting in the chair across from him reading

"Feeling better?" Derek asked calmly as he put the marker in the book he was reading and glanced up at the other man

"Much," Stiles croaked back

"Good,"

"What... did you do?" the younger hero asked slowly

"It's a power of mine, I drained some of your pain, it won't last long but... long enough for you to make a decision,"

"A decision?" he echoed

Derek nodded once, setting a book down on the coffee table- _Stiles'_ book

"Hey! You stole my book!!"

"It was LITERALLY killing you," Derek pointed out with a frown

"Yeah but it's still MY book!!!"

"No, it's a cursed book that was created by a witch over a century ago that's slowly been making it's way around the country killing people,"

...Oh

"I'm going to burn this thing, just so you know," Derek stated casually

And that was probably fair, Stiles didn't want anyone else making the same stupid decision he had made- even though he wouldn't have done things differently, he was glad he was able to spend a few months as Death Wish, even if a few months were all he was able to get

"Ok," he said quietly

Derek nodded once, setting that aside and standing up, making his way towards the couch and sitting down slowly on the edge of the coffee table

"I have an offer for you,"

"Sounds like it,"

Derek took a deep breath, flicking his claws out and letting his fangs drop, eyes glowing a bright red as he looked at Stiles expectingly, as if he was waiting on Stiles to get the hint

And after a few agonizingly awkward moments, Stiles finally did

"You're a werewolf.... aren't you?"

"I know, I'm as subtle as a sledgehammer aren't I?" Derek joked dryly

"And.... you want to turn me? Will that make the disease go away?"

"It should, it'll give you the ability to stay a superhero too- though, one that I'll have to train rather than just going off on your own like a lunatic,"

"But I'll.... I'll be alive, and in my right mind," Stiles said quietly

His dad wouldn't have to lose another person he loved to that disease, and that was all that mattered to Stiles

"I'll do it," he said quietly, shifting a little bit closer

"Good, then-"

"But I have a couple of questions first,"

Derek gave a slow nod, waiting patiently for him to continue

"When we met- as, you know, US, out of costume..... was that really an accident or were you following me?"

"It was honestly an accident, I didn't realize who you were until our second meeting, the flowers covered up your scent the first time,"

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you would have distanced yourself from me, never would have let me get close enough to help you if you knew who I was,"

Stiles wanted to say that he was wrong but... in all honesty, Derek had really hit the nail on the head with that one

"What made you become a superhero?"

"THAT is a long story, I promise I'll tell you later,"

"Are there more werewolves out there?"

"Yes, alot actually, I'll explain more of it to you later,"

"And other supernatural creatures too? Why isn't this superhero thing bigger than it is?"

"Yes, and ... because people aren't as good as comic books and movies make them out to be? The supernatural has been hunted for centuries, we already have to struggle to keep ourselves alive in human society, why make it harder and draw attention to ourselves?"

That made sense, he supposed

"As a matter of fact, the woman who gave you that book- Jennifer- she was just using you Stiles, she wanted to use you as a sacrifice to make her magic stronger, your life force has been draining away.... and going straight into her magic, she's been trying to build it up to exterminate a group of hunters that live here, and she's prepared to take any collateral damage it takes with her,"

"Well that sounds just charming," Stiles huffed back

"We'll stop her- together,"

Stiles' lips quirked up slightly and he moved a bit closer, biting his lip

"Were you bitten too?"

Derek gave a short shake of his head

"Born this way,"

"Oh.... that's cool, and your family?"

His smile faltered and Stiles instantly knew the answer

"So that's why you became a superhero.... have you found your Green Goblin yet?"

"I know who she is, I just haven't gotten to her quite yet,"

"Well then, here's hoping we'll get her together," Stiles smiled back, rolling his glove off and rolling up his sleeve as he held his arm out towards Derek

"Any other questions before we do this?" the werewolf asked

"Just one- will you help me modify the costume?"

Derek didn't bother answering, just sunk his teeth into Stiles' flesh

 

**One month later**

 

"Ahh I LOVE the smell of scared criminals in the middle of the night!" Stiles smirked beneath his mask, eyes flashing brilliant gold as he crouched down on the rooftop

"Easy there, remember, you're still new at this,"

"I know I know," Stiles purred back, standing up fully and wrapping an arm around Derek

"I promise to keep to your training Sensei," he smirked teasingly

Derek rolled his eyes fondly, leaning in closer and pressing their foreheads together

"Are you ready for this?"

"Completely," Stiles insisted, pulling his mask down just long enough to give Derek a soft kiss before adjusting it again and standing at the edge of the roof

"After you," Derek insisted

Stiles' eyes lit up as he jumped off of the roof, immediately chasing after the robbers as he heard Derek drop and start running right behind him

Tracking down these guys, saving people, HELPING people.... but not doing it alone or for his own selfish purposes anymore, doing it with a real PURPOSE now, and with his boyfreind at that....

Now _that_ was euphoria


End file.
